Three-Year Sentence for Belarus Editor Who Published Mohammed Cartoons

By Brent Surgeoner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – Former editor for Zhoda, Alyaksandr Zdvizhkou, was sentenced to three-years in prison for republishing the infamous Mohammed cartoons that caused outrage throughout Muslim communities after appearing in Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, in 2005.

His sentence was condemned as overly harsh by free press organizations.  A representative from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe argued that Zdvikhkou should be set free.

Representatives from the Muslim community also declared that the sentence was too harsh.

Some have questioned whether Zdvizhkou is just another victim of President Alexandre Lukashenko’s harsh crackdown on opposition groups.

The paper Zdvihkou worked for, Zhoda, was closely tied to Alyaksandr Kazulin, who challenged President Lukashenko in the 2006 elections.  Lukashenko had publicly criticized Zhoda and Kazulin and forced the paper to close in March 2006.

Zdvizhkou’s trial took place behind closed doors.  He was convicted of inciting religious and national hatred, although his lawyer is planning to appeal.

The Mohammed cartoons appeared in Zhoda on 18 February 2006 in an article about Muslim protests.  Allegedly, Zdvizhkou did not realize the cartoon was in the article until after its distribution and halted publication after 25 percent of the copies had already been released.

Subsequently, the Belarusian KGB raided Zhoda headquarters which lead to Zdvizhkou’s prosecution.  Zdvizhkou evaded his original trial date set for June 2006 by fleeing the country.  However, he was arrested on November 2007 when he returned to Belarus.

The original 12-set Mohammed cartoons appeared in Denmark in 2005 and sparked worldwide protests by Muslims who said the cartoons were blasphemous.  At least 50 people died as a result of those protests.

Of the 10 million people living in Belarus, fewer than 1 percent are Muslim.

For more information, please see:

Reuters - Belarus jails Prophet Mohammad cartoon publisher - 18 January 2008

Reporters Without Borders - Journalists gets three years in prison for reprinting Mohammed cartoons - 18 January 2008

Yahoo (AP) - Belarus editor jailed for Islam cartoon - 18 January 2008

Comments

[Muslims Against Sharia]

Islamofascist-Dhimmi Axis Assault on Free Speech

Muslims Against Sharia strongly denounce President Lukashenko and his KGB thugs for imprisoning Alexander Sdvizhkov. While most of the former Soviet Republics are embracing Democracy and Reform, Belarus continues to enforce fascist rules of communist era. Muslims Against Sharia demand immediate release of Alexander Sdvizhkov and reinstatement of "Zgoda" newspaper.

Mr. Sdvizhkov is convicted for incitement of religious and national hatred. We already know that Islamophobia or even mere criticism of Islam is racism, because Islam is a race. And thanks to the Dhimmis from Belarus, now we've learned that Islam is also a nationality. We should expect Islam to be declared a gender any day now.

Alexander Sdvizhkov is not alone. The latest casualties of Islamofascist-Dhimmi Axis Assault on Free Speech include Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Fouad al-Farhan, Joe Kaufman, Paul Ray, Michael Savage, Mark Steyn, TomaShot, Andrew Whitehead, and many others. Are you going to be next? http://muslimsagainstsharia.blogspot.com/2008/01/islamofascist-dhimmi-axis-assault-on.html